With the popularity of the betta fish growing at an exponential rate right now while the popularity of the gourami also increases, it was only a matter of time before we started to notice people reaching out to ask about keeping a betta and gourami in the same aquarium as each other.
Both species really are excellent fish that have very loyal and dedicated fan bases who are adamant about keeping either species but the number of people looking to keep both is definitely on the rise too.
With there being such a high number of people asking about keeping a betta fish with gourami in the same tank, we wanted to publish our own article going over the topic.
We have seen people asking about keeping betta and gourami together on social media and the replies that the people ended up getting from the community were far from correct.
Our hope is that we will be able to help as many of our readers as possible better understand the topic so you are able to make a more informed decision on how to keep your fish.
Can You Keep A Betta And Gourami In The Same Aquarium?
You can technically keep a betta fish in the same tank as a gourami but you really do need a huge tank, with a 55 gallon tank being the recommended minimum.
The majority of people will have much smaller aquariums than this so it is not recommended that you keep your betta fish and gourami, even dwarf gourami in the same tank as they will usually end up fighting each other.
Even if you do look to keep your betta and gourami in the same larger tank then you can still have problems due to both fish being some what aggressive, especially the males.
Most people within the fish keeping hobby are aware of the aggressive natural of betta fish but gourami can also be aggressive in some situations too.
This increases the chances of aggression between the two species as well as the chances of chasing, tail or fin nipping, and actual fights.
We have seen some people report that it is easier to keep female betta fish and female gourami in the same aquarium but again, we would only ever say that this can be attempted in a tank that is at least 55 gallons and even then there can be issues.
With the vast majority of our readers having an aquarium that is under 40 gallons, it is just not suitable to even try to keep a betta and your gourami in the same aquarium.
Will Betta Fish And Gourami Always Fight?
Although in some very rare situations a betta and gourami may not fight if they are kept in the same tank, this is rare and the chances of the two species at least chasing each other and nipping each others fins and tails is very high.
This is unavoidable with these species as they both have an aggressive side that tends to show more commonly in larger tanks.
We have seen people on social media suggest that if you add your betta fish and your gourami to the same aquarium from being baby fish and let them grow up together they will not fight.
This is false and couldn’t be further from the truth, both species tend to display aggression once they are adults so just because the displays of aggression are low as baby fish, it does not mean this will always be the case.
There have been multiple posts on social media now from people who fell foul of this advice and ended up having problems with their gourami and betta fish that they have had in the same tank since they were babies ended up fighting each other.
We would guess that the chances of this happening for the average person are extremely high so we just wanted to specifically point that out and make our readers aware of it as a large number of people on social media keep recommending this incorrect strategy.
What Size Tank To Keep Betta Fish And Gourami Together?
The people who have successfully been able to keep betta fish and gourami in the same aquarium have usually had a minimum tank size of 55 gallons with some having much larger tanks.
Even then though, some people still end up having problems with their gourami and betta fish fighting each other no matter what size tank the fish are kept in.
Another problem with the logic of keeping a gourami and betta fish in such a large tank is that you are able to keep very few other fish in the tank or you risk aggression from the gourami and betta towards their other tank mates too.
This often means you are paying over the odds for a much larger tank that is understocked due to the specific fish species that you want to keep trying to fight everything.
It just makes more sense to build out a community tank with suitable tank mates in these larger tanks so you are able to enjoy them more and more have to worry about aggression between the fish species that you keep.
This is the strategy that the vast majority of fish keepers tend to take and it is so popular because it works so well and there are plenty of other fish species out there that you are able to keep without the issues of a gourami or betta fish.
Conclusioin
That brings our article going over keeping betta and gourami fish in the same aquarium to an end. We hope that we have been able to help you better understand that for the vast majority of our readers, even trying to keep these fish in the same aquarium is a bad idea and that it should be avoided. The chances of you having problems with the fish fighting each other is extremely high and we would always recommend that our readers just go with other fish species that are actually compatible with each other.
